The Regional Secretariat for Finance, Planning, and Public Administration defended that the PS/Azores compared data that is not “technically possible to compare” on the regional public debt, following information released on Monday by the Bank of Portugal.
According to the regional secretariat headed by Duarte Freitas, “as has been explained on other occasions, it is not technically possible to compare piecemeal data on public debt with the ‘stock’ of debt at the end of each year, since piecemeal data includes, for example, the use of current accounts, amortizations and factoring, which fluctuate at the end of each year.”
The Regional Government of the Azores was reacting to a statement released on Monday by the PS/Açores.
In the statement, Carlos Silva, vice-chairman of the Socialist parliamentary group in the Azores, accused the Azorean government of “repeated non-compliance” with the “commitments it itself made regarding the deficit and public debt.”
According to Carlos Silva, data from the Bank of Portugal indicates that, in the second quarter of 2024, “the Azores’ debt was 3,323.43 million euros”, which means that, in six months, “it increased by 120 million euros, in a year in which it was supposed to have zero debt”.
Also, in a press release issued on Monday evening, the Regional Finance Secretariat adds that the figure presented by the Bank of Portugal for the second quarter of 2024 “takes into account the authorization granted by the State Budget of 75 million euros for the conversion of commercial debt in the health sector into financial debt”.
“In addition, these figures also reflect around 110 million euros of refinancing operations approved by the Azores parliament.”
According to the Azorean government, “in this way, the figure presented, as has happened in recent years, has no correspondence with the ‘stock’ of debt recorded at the end of the year.”

in Diário dos Açores – Osvaldo Cabral, director

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